Oscar-nominated film on food industry hits screens

An Oscar-nominated film exploring large-scale agricultural production in the US opens in British cinemas on Friday (12 Feb).

Food, Inc is a 90-minute documentary that claims to expose “the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer”.

It claims the country’s food supply is controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and the environment.

While the UK food system is less intensive than that in America it is a mistake to think we are safe from the pressures that allow such a system to dominate US markets, it said.

“Films like Food Inc are invaluable in raising awareness of the true cost of cheaply produced food.

“Unless we fight it, the food production of the UK, simply following developments in the US ten to fifteen years later, will take us inexorably into a Food, Inc future (either in the UK itself, or in the food we import).”

Food, Inc has been nominated in the best documentary feature category of the Oscars.